ST. LOUIS — Expect high corn prices to drive up some food prices this year.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said farmers expect to harvest 78.9 million acres of corn, down 8.7 percent from the 86.5 million harvested last year, in part because Midwest flooding has damaged a portion of the crop.

An agriculture economist with Iowa State University said the USDA report shows that farmers planted more corn than they had anticipated, but that some of it was washed away in the floods.